The Believers (1987)

June 10, 1987

FILM: 'THE BELIEVERS,' FROM JOHN SCHLESINGER

By VINCENT CANBY

Published: June 10, 1987

LEAD: WHEN Stephen King sits down to write ''Carrie'' or ''Children of the Corn'' or some other work of the horrible occult, you can bet that, somewhere down deep, he enjoys and even believes what he's doing. Writers can't easily fake the sort of enthusiasm and concentration that are apparent in Mr. King's hugely popular novels and stories, in which good and evil lock harps and horns in matches that, more often than not, end in tie decisions.

WHEN Stephen King sits down to write ''Carrie'' or ''Children of the Corn'' or some other work of the horrible occult, you can bet that, somewhere down deep, he enjoys and even believes what he's doing. Writers can't easily fake the sort of enthusiasm and concentration that are apparent in Mr. King's hugely popular novels and stories, in which good and evil lock harps and horns in matches that, more often than not, end in tie decisions.

Enthusiasm and concentration are both dismally lacking in ''The Believers,'' opening today at the Manhattan Twin and other theaters. It's an absurd, especially cheerless movie about child-sacrificing devil-worshippers who've slipped out of Africa and, via East Harlem, have come down into midtown Manhattan to infiltrate the ranks of the white establishment. In addition to everything else that's wrong, ''The Believers'' is more than a little bit racist.

John Schlesinger has directed Mark Frost's not-great screenplay (based on Nicholas Conde's book, ''The Religion'') as if he were a tourist on a day trip to an exotic ghetto. The movie is full of snaps of picturesque voodoo ceremonies utilizing fresh chicken blood, decapitated cats and, ultimately, small boys.

Mr. Schlesinger, the man who made ''Darling,'' ''Midnight Cowboy,'' ''Sunday, Bloody Sunday'' and ''The Falcon and the Snowman,'' may not believe this nonsense, though the movie pretends to.

When you hear bongo drums, you know the devil isn't far off. An evil unguent causes the eruption on its victim of a frightful sore that emits more insects than the trunk of a decaying redwood tree. A man who appears to have a bad case of ulcers actually has a belly full of snakes. Humble, God-fearing folk clutch their rosaries and crucifixes and fight the powers of one graven image with those of another.

''The Believers'' has none of the wit and ambiguous charm of ''Rosemary's Baby'' - it's far too explicit and commonplace. It doesn't have the passion of ''The Exorcist,'' which, though lurid, was, at least consistent in its mythology.

Even more unforgivable, particularly to anyone who cherishes Mr. King's wildest nightmares, is the film's total humorlessness and clumsy plotting. ''The Believers'' moves so slowly, and with such unwarranted deliberation, that you might think that the movie makers were trying to build a home stereo with English-language instructions imported from Taiwan. Nobody seems to know what to do next, except the actors.

They say their hysterical, less-than-inspired lines (''What kind of a monster did that?'' is typical) and get off fast.

Among the more prominent members of the cast are Martin Sheen, as a psychologist who wrestles with the forces of darkness for the life of his son; Helen Shaver, as his girlfriend; Robert Loggia, as an overwhelmed police inspector; Malick Bowens, as the devil's personnel manager (a black man who wears what appear to be grey-blue contact lenses), and Harris Yulin, as a business tycoon who has welcomed a take-over bid from the ultimate foreign power.
Beat the Devil
THE BELIEVERS, directed by John Schlesinger; screenplay by Mark Frost, based on the book ''The Religion'' by Nicholas Conde; director of photography, Robby Muller; edited by Peter Honess; music by J. Peter Robinson; production design, Simon Holland; produced by Mr. Schlesinger, Michael Childers and Beverly Camhe; released by Orion Pictures Corporation. At National, Broadway and 44th Street; Manhattan Twin, 59th Street and Third Avenue; Orpheum, 86th Street near Third Avenue; 84th Street Six, at Broadway; 23d Street Triplex, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues; Bay Cinema, Second Avenue at 32d Street; Movie Center 5, 125th Street, between Powell and Douglas Boulevards. Running Time: 100 minutes.